The present disclosure relates generally to polymer-encapsulated metallic ink particles and metallic electrophotographic inks.
The global print market is in the process of transforming from analog printing to digital printing. Electrophotographic printing is one example of a digital printing technique. Electrophotographic printing refers to a process that provides an ink image that is electrostatically transferred from a photo imaging plate to an intermediate drum or roller, and then is thermally transferred to a substrate; or to a process where the ink image is electrostatically transferred from the photo imaging plate directly onto a substrate. In one example, the photo imaging plate is a photoconductive surface that is used to develop a hardcopy of the image. The photoconductive surface is selectively charged with a latent electrostatic image having both image and background areas. In one example, a liquid ink, which includes charged toner particles in a carrier liquid, is brought into contact with the selectively charged photoconductive surface. The charged toner particles adhere to the image areas of the latent image while the background areas remain free of ink. A hardcopy material (e.g., paper or other print substrate) is brought directly or indirectly into contact with the photo-conductive surface in order to transfer the latent image. Variations of electrophotographic printing utilize different methods for forming the electrostatic latent image on a photoreceptor or on a dielectric material. Inks used in electrophotographic printing include solid color inks, clear inks, and metallic inks.